Why Lazarus
Because a woman was disinherited
by a disinterested witness
in Turkey Ford, Oklahoma
because she married
in the Indian way
and zinc was found
on her allotment.
For the sake of the sixth born child.
Last of the animal surname,
son of he named
for the third son
of Jacob and Leah,
who ran from home chased
by a flickering length of leather.
Like a contrary land breeze
from mountain to sea,
not stopping until he
hit salt water.
Because my own father’s father
was made citizen
at age fourteen. Beneath the land
he tended for his children
covered rivers flow
under suburban foundations.
Because a park, reservation, or monument bears the same official
symbol on the map:
| Park, reservation, or monument | . |
A lonely figure surrounded by endless fields.
Because in removal,
the Shawnee were not permitted
to carry any tools
that could be used
as weapons.
So Lazarus broke ground
with his fists and toes, raked red earth
with a gar’s jaw. Peeled limbs
from the trees to burn for warmth,
slid corn kernels down the side
of his forearm into holes
quarried with his bare hands.
Because the cougars extirpated
from Shawnee homelands
track me in my sleep
and a knot in a tale
shows that the story could go either way.
For the sake of the words of faith:
no talk, instruction, or translation
in native language was permitted
to the daughters of Lazarus
at the Seneca Indian School
even for the youngest pupils.
The Shawnee bible
being the only exception.
Because an ancestor was the twelfth
child of that year
and the missionaries
tallied the twelfth letter
of the alphabet
and went thumbing
through the bible for a name.
Because the etymology
of the word martyr is to bear a witness:
Indian trails holding steady
under concrete highways.
Because Lazarus made Jesus weep
as a friend and call him
back to the world.
For we, the resurrected,
so solitary in our vast fields
need to call out to one another
by name in this new territory
where the fee simple is neither.
Laura Da’ is a poet and teacher who studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is the author of Tributaries, American Book Award winner, and Instruments of the True Measure, Washington State Book Award winner. Da’ is Eastern Shawnee. She lives near Seattle, Washington.
BACK TO ISSUE